Thank You
by Rowana Renee
Summary: A nice sickening story to give you a bad case of the warm n' fuzzies. Bleck. I can't believe I wrote this... I was feeling nice and angsty and this evil oneshot swooped down and bit me! No owies involved CAN YOU BELIEVE IT? I can't either...


**This is a sickening tale to give you the warm and fuzzies. -_- I think I'm losing it. Anyways, this contains angst and fluff…fluff is good…and angst is good…but really, you're gonna feel like you just hugged a big, fluffy, warm teddy bear…GAH I AM losing it! NO! -_+**

Will sighed quietly, watching rain drip down his window. It was frighteningly cold outside, which was confirmed by the fact that ice was steadily forming on Wills' door. The sky was a grey-black color, which suited him just fine at the moment. He thought that he would probably go insane if it was sunny outside.

He sighed again and glared stonily at his ranger cloak, which was hanging in an innocent way on the coat rack. Will narrowed his eyes at it, daring it to argue with him.

He felt a sudden desire to get rid of the garment, and snap his long bow in half, and dull the blades of his ranger knives. After all, why not go into battle utterly weaponless? He huffed, wondering why he had to go into battle at all.

Why should he continue to be a ranger? That was the question nagging at his mind; it had been for days now. Ever since he'd gotten back from Macindaw, only to be thrown into another task that proved to be just as taxing if not more so.

He'd given away his dog and Tug was in the stables having a serious injury tended. Halt was miles away and so was Gilan, with the next ranger gathering almost six months away. The house keeper was sick and no one was allowed out during the storm, which was said to be the worst one in years. It was at times like this when Will couldn't help but think that he could control the weather with his emotions.

Countless times he'd tried making a pot of coffee, only to give up, deciding that it wasn't worth it. He couldn't even be bothered to read his copy of Rangers Weekly. And it was all _their _fault. If it wasn't for Alyss and that blasted little group of thugs Will wouldn't be in this situation.

He'd almost been killed by Alyss, practically laid open his soul for her, _not_ been murdered by her, _and_ saved her from a maniac prince gone wrong, and she didn't even _remember _any of it. And then he'd given his dog to a giant, which was almost just as bad, and when he'd finally gotten home he'd been dragged into taking down a group of criminals that had been terrorizing Seacliff. He had nearly been killed in the process, and the baron didn't even acknowledge it.

Will glared once more at his cloak. "Stupid baron." He muttered under his breath. "He doesn't have any idea what he's doing…"

Will was suddenly taken by a wild desire to scream as if he'd lost all wit while breaking everything in sight. How he refrained was beyond him.

He scowled, looking out his window again. "You'd better be glad it's not a nice day, or someone would have to die." He told no one in specific

He paced around for a few minutes, still wanting to break things, and then strode into his room and snatched the pillow from his bed. Halt had made him do this a few times during his apprenticeship, so t might still help.

He pressed the pillow against his face and gave a scream to wake the dead. At least it was muffled by the pillow…he kept screaming until he ran out of breath, inhaled deeply, and started again.

After a few times he glared at the pillow with pure loathing and tossed it back onto his bed, contemplating stabbing it with his saxe knife.

He sighed again and went back to pacing, recalling a similar time he'd had with Halt.

_He'd just gotten back from Skandia, had to go to castle Araluen, and then been forced into a meeting with the baron. He was more tired than he'd ever been, excluding his time in Skandia, when he and Halt were nearly back to the cabin._

_They were going past two youths when it happened. One of the teens nudged the other and said, "Oy! Them there are rangers! You'd better run or the creepy men from the forest will eat you! You know how they are; always hiding around, pretending to serve the king when all they really do is spy on him."_

_Will had, of course, tried to get off of Tug so he could kill the boy. But Halt wouldn't let him, which had him horribly upset by the time they got back to Halts' cabin._

"_Why are you just going to let them say that? You know we don't really-! Halt!"_

_Halt had rolled his eyes and led Will, who was furious beyond measure, to the bedroom, where he instructed him to lie down._

_Will hadn't understood the point, but he'd obeyed._

_Halt had practically suffocated him, pressing his face into the pillow so hard._

"_Alright start screaming."_

_Will had pulled away from him, confused. "Why?"_

_Halt had rolled his eyes. "Do I have to make you?"_

_Silence._

_Halt had then unsheathed one of his ranger knives, which had Will obeying his every command with fervor._

_Surprisingly it did help a little, not as much as killing the offender would have, but it still helped._

Will huffed again and decided that he really didn't care if it was law not to go out when it was raining hard enough that the raindrops could be used as knives.

He was about to put on his ranger cloak, but was suddenly locked in mental combat about whether or not to do it. He finally lost the mind-war with himself and grudgingly donned the shroud. His eyes lit up with an evil pleasure as the idea suddenly hit him to spread his misery to Halt.

After all, why not make his mentor suffer a little? It would be fun, he thought, to cause Halt a bit of agony as well.

He got a piece of paper and a quill, along with some ink, and wrote a letter to his mentor.

_Ranger Halt,_

_I've decided to quit. I will no longer be a ranger starting at the next ranger meeting, which is when I'll be telling Crowley that being a ranger just isn't worth it. Here's your bronze leaf, which I kept for when I get an apprentice. _

_Sincerely, Will (Who might not reply because…well…)_

Will grinned wickedly and put the letter, along with the oakleaf, into an envelope. He'd take it to town with him and mail it.

He took his longbow, quiver, and knives before opening his door, being slammed backwards into his wall, fighting his way out of the house, and throwing every ounce of strength he had into getting the door closed again.

He made his way into town and mailed his letter, feeling greatly pleased as he did so.

After that he wandered around aimlessly for awhile. After several minutes, or was it hours, of doing nothing in specific he finally went to the stables to visit Tug. He was soaked completely by the time he got to the stables and Tug seemed to laugh at him.

"You're a very cruel pony, you know that. And you don't deserve the apple that I've got for you."

Tug gave him an offended look that seemed to say, "What_ever."_

Will shrugged and gave Tug the apple. "I've been having a rough week, you?"

Tug tossed his head, seeming to say, "Yes, actually. Being brushed and pampered almost constantly is very difficult."

Will shook his head. "You don't know the meaning of the word."

Tug whinnied in an arguing way, "Are you, or are you not my rider? Of course I know what difficult means. It means _you."_

After leaving the stables Will felt a little better, but not much. He walked past a young girl, noticing how her mother quickly pulled her from view.

He sighed and shook his head, not hearing footsteps behind him for a few seconds because of the rain.

He felt someone tug on his sleeve and he looked down to see the same girl. "Hello, little one. Do you need something?"

The girl grinned up at him. "I wanted ta' say thank you so so _so _much for keeping us all safe. Momma doesn't like you ranggers, but daddy says that ranggers is good, so I believe him. Thank you!"

Will smiled back, kneeling to be at eye-level with the girl. "And I thank you for that." He said quietly

The girl beamed and hugged him, kissing him on the cheek before running back to her mother.

Will was glad he'd decided to wear his cloak, as no one could see him blushing at the oddity of actually being thanked for being a ranger.

He was about to go back to his cabin when a horrible thought hit him. He practically flew back to the post office and wrote another letter, getting it sent as fast as he could.

He decided that he'd try being a ranger for just a bit longer. He did the math quickly in his head getting thanked once every six years wasn't horrible, it wasn't great, but it wasn't horrible. And it probably wouldn't take awfully long for Shadow to have puppies, and then he'd take three to be safe, just in case he met anyone who needed a puppy. Tug was doing well and would be able to come home in a few days.

And when Will got back to his cabin he was attacked by a furious carrier pigeon, which was holding a letter from none other than Alyss.

Will was so elated when he read the letter that he didn't even notice that the rain had let up and there was a rainbow just beginning to show through the clouds.

Of course he couldn't know that the little girl would grow up to be the first female ranger, nor could he know that her son would be his daughters' husband, nor that their son would be second only to himself and Halt. If he did know chances were he would have been happy enough to terrorize Halt for weeks.

Halt read and reread the letter, completely shocked by his apprentice. He furiously wrote a reply.

_NOT dear Will,_

_WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU WON'T BE A RANGER ANYMORE? HAVE YOU THOUGHT THAT I SPENT SIX LONG YEARS TRAINING YOU? YOU WILL BE A RANGER IF I HAVE TO FORCE YOU TO! AND THAT IS FINAL!!_

He mailed the letter before reading his second letter, seeing that it was also from Will he tore it open and read it.

He smirked at what it said.

_Dear Halt The Most Wonderful Amazing Mentor Ever In The Whole Wide World,_

_I did NOT mean what I said earlier. Sorry about that. _

_P.S. Can I have my leaf back?_

Halt wasn't mean by any account, but even he has to have a little fun sometimes. He wrote a second letter as well.

_NOT dear ex-apprentice ex-ranger,_

_NO you may NOT have your leaf back._

He made sure to send it first, a whole hour before the second one, which contained the oakleaf.

**Okay, so I KNOW that Will went to Redmont the same day he got Alyss' letter, but not in my story he doesn't. Hey, the little girl thing was a bit…ominous…don't you think? Well, it's in an upcoming fic. ^?^**


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